Thu. 11. January 2024 (18.30h)
Seminar Room: 81.21, Elisabethstraße 59/II, 8010 Graz
The speech of U.S. President James Monroe in December 1823 had long-term consequences on the relationship between the U.S. and Central America. The claim of a U.S. political, economic, and even cultural supremacy became a fundamental part of U.S. policies, especially at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. In this presentation I will look at selected events in history where the Monroe Doctrine came into action in Central America and revise its ideological and operational elements. Further, the presentation will look responses in Central America to U.S. imperialist actions and ask about the legacy of the Doctrine after the end of the Cold War.
Laurin Blecha is historian with a research focus on the history of Central America. Since October 2023 he is PostDoc at the Department of History at the University of Salzburg. Together with Christian Cwik and Jörg Türschmann he edited the book Múltiples facetas de las Independencias. La emancipación de América Central en su retrospectiva (1821–2021), which was published in Fall 2023 (DeGuyter).